Nokian Hakka is my favorite... the studless type. They last super long time and awesome traction. I had Bridgestone Blizzaks before I learned about Nokian. The Blizzaks has great tractions but wears out fast (you only got half a tread for snow tires and the rest is basically all season tire) and the steering feeling is very numb. I don't know about their latest one but I am sure they improved the steering response.

I heard people are happy with Dunlop Graspics... they are cheap and has plastic fibers in it to act like a soft spike... something like that. My cousin has them in NH and he thinks they are good. His first snow tires was Blizzak and he couldn't believe the amount of traction over all season tires.